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Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy

Operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC

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Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications.

Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308

EPA RE-Powering America’s 

Lands: Kansas City Municipal 

Farm Site—Biomass Power 

Analysis

R. Hunsberger and G. Mosey

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Technical Report

NREL/TP-5D00-62097

January 2015
NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy

Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy

Operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC

This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy

Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications.

Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

15013 Denver West Parkway

Golden, CO 80401

303-275-3000 • www.nrel.gov

EPA RE-Powering America’s 

Lands: Kansas City Municipal 

Farm Site—Biomass Power 

Analysis

R. Hunsberger and G. Mosey

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 

Prepared under Task No. WFD3.1001

Technical Report

NREL/TP-5D00-62097

January 2015
NOTICE

This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States government. 

Neither the United States government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, 

express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of 

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or favoring by the United States government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors 

expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States government or any agency thereof.

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Cover Photos: (left to right) photo by Pat Corkery, NREL 16416, photo from SunEdison, NREL 17423, photo by Pat Corkery, NREL 

16560, photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL 17613, photo by Dean Armstrong, NREL 17436, photo by Pat Corkery, NREL 17721.

Printed on paper containing at least 50% wastepaper, including 10% post consumer waste.
iii

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Acknowledgments

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) thanks the U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) for its interest in securing NREL’s technical expertise.

Special thanks go to Andrew Bracker, Michael Shaw, and Marleen Leonce of the City of Kansas 

City; Roland Maliwat of Kansas City Power and Light Company; Shelley Brodie from EPA; and 

Katie Brown, AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow hosted by EPA. We also thank the 

people from Kansas City and the vicinity who attended various meetings held during NREL’s

site visit October 22–23, 2012.

Gregg Tomberlin of NREL also provided material help in this analysis.
iv

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List of Acronyms

BAM biomass availability multiple

Btu/h Btu per hour

CHP combined heat and power

CLUP conceptual land use plan

CO carbon monoxide

CO2 carbon dioxide

DOE U.S. Department of Energy

EAB emerald ash borer

EIA U.S. Energy Information Administration

EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

GT green tons

KCP&L Kansas City Power and Light Company

MC moisture content

NOX nitrous oxide

NPV net present value

NREL National Renewable Energy Laboratory
v

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Executive Summary

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Solid Waste and Emergency 

Response Center for Program Analysis developed the RE-Powering America’s Land Initiative to 

reuse contaminated sites for renewable energy generation when aligned with a community’s 

vision for a particular site.

The Kansas City, Missouri, Municipal Farm site, a group of city-owned properties, was selected 

for a feasibility study under this initiative. The city was originally interested in both biomass and 

solar; however, after additional discussions with the program and experts at the National 

Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the city ultimately chose to analyze the potential 

feasibility of the site for biopower through the RE-Powering Initiative. The city is separately 

funding a solar feasibility study, the results of which will be released at a later date.

Results

Due to the low site loads and long distances between existing buildings, none of the technologies 

reviewed—which include biomass heat, power, and combined heat and power (CHP)—are 

economically viable options for the Municipal Farm site as it is currently developed. However, if 

additional buildings on the site were to be developed around a future central biomass heating or 

CHP facility, biomass could be a good option for the site.

Using data provided by the city, NREL has estimated that there is a steady supply of available 

low-grade biomass suitable for a biomass facility producing CHP in the range of approximately 

12,000 green tons (GT) per year. Another 90,000 GT per year could be available as a result of 

tree mortalities caused by the emerald ash borer, an invasive species of beetle. We estimate that 

the combined 102,000 GT per year could support a 6-MW biomass electric power facility; thus,

it would appear that local biomass resources are adequate for the described facility. However, 

because the existing electrical loads total only approximately 100 kW—and because the city

cannot sell power to the grid—we do not recommend producing electric power from biomass at 

this site.

For the same reasons, NREL does not recommend a biomass CHP installation at the site, because

the electrical load is too low and the available revenue from energy sales would not be sufficient 

to cover the high capital and operating costs.

Finally, we evaluated the feasibility of biomass heating for three building configurations, but 

none of these proved to be economically attractive.

Recommendations and Next Steps

Based on preliminary numbers, none of the reviewed biomass-fired options—electric generation, 

CHP, and heat only—are economically feasible for the Municipal Farm site at this time. If 

desired, further analysis could be undertaken to confirm assumptions used in this report, 

particularly biomass availability, and biomass fuel cost, equipment sizing and cost, and 

operations and maintenance costs.
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Table of Contents

1 Background and Scope of Work......................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Study Level and Uncertainty......................................................................................................... 1

2 Development of Biomass Energy on Superfund Sites ..................................................................... 2

3 Bioenergy Technology......................................................................................................................... 3

3.1 Bioenergy Production.................................................................................................................... 3

3.2 Types of Bioenergy Systems......................................................................................................... 4

3.2.1 Thermal Energy Only....................................................................................................... 4

3.2.2 Power Generation Only.................................................................................................... 5

3.2.3 CHP.................................................................................................................................. 6

3.3 District Heating ............................................................................................................................. 9

3.4 Biopower System Components................................................................................................... 10

3.4.2 Fuel Receiving, Storage, and Handling.......................................................................... 10

3.4.3 Combustion System and Steam Generator..................................................................... 11

3.4.4 Steam Turbine ................................................................................................................ 11

3.4.5 Air Pollution Control...................................................................................................... 12

3.4.6 Condensers and Cooling Towers.................................................................................... 12

4 Biomass Feedstock—Properties, Cost, and Availability................................................................ 14

4.1 Biomass Properties...................................................................................................................... 14

4.2 Biomass Cost—Potential Tipping Fees....................................................................................... 15

4.3 Biomass Availability—Resources and Resource Consumption.................................................. 15

4.3.1 Biomass Assessment Tools............................................................................................ 16

4.3.2 Biomass Available from Collection Near the Site ......................................................... 18

4.3.3 Potential Biomass from Emerald Ash Borer.................................................................. 19

4.3.4 Biomass Consumption in Missouri ................................................................................ 21

4.3.5 Biomass Summary ......................................................................................................... 22

4.4 Recommended Activities for the Next Level of Analysis........................................................... 23

5 Site Description .................................................................................................................................. 24

5.1 Site and Area Photos................................................................................................................... 27

5.2 Site Location and Nearby Loads................................................................................................. 30

5.3 Utility Provider............................................................................................................................ 31

5.4 Recommended Activities for the Next Level of Analysis........................................................... 31

6 State and Local Energy and Utility Details ...................................................................................... 32

6.1 U.S. Energy Information Administration .................................................................................... 32

7 Potential Heat and Power Loads....................................................................................................... 36

7.1 Army National Guard Armory .................................................................................................... 37

7.2 Greenhouse.................................................................................................................................. 37

7.3 Other Loads................................................................................................................................. 38

7.4 Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 39

7.5 Recommended Activities for the Next Level of Analysis........................................................... 40

8 Potential Energy Generation ............................................................................................................. 41

8.1 Heat Only .................................................................................................................................... 41

8.1.1 Analysis Results............................................................................................................. 41

8.2 Electric Only ............................................................................................................................... 42

8.3 Biomass CHP .............................................................................................................................. 43

9 Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................................................................... 44

9.1 Summary of Key Recommended Activities................................................................................ 44

9.1.1 Biomass Feedstock......................................................................................................... 44

9.1.2 Loads.............................................................................................................................. 44

10 References .......................................................................................................................................... 45

11 Appendices ......................................................................................................................................... 48

11.1 Appendix A: KCP&L Letter of Support ..................................................................................... 48
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11.2 Appendix B: RETScreen Analysis of Biomass Heating ............................................................. 49

11.2.1 Building Heating Loads ................................................................................................. 49

11.2.2 Cost Estimates................................................................................................................ 49

11.2.3 Financial Analysis.......................................................................................................... 50

11.2.4 Sensitivity Analysis........................................................................................................ 51
viii

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List of Figures

Figure 1. Direct-fired biopower system. Photo by Wheelabrator Shasta Energy Co., NREL 07163 ........... 4

Figure 2. Thermal-only biomass energy system ........................................................................................... 5

Figure 3. Power generation–only biomass energy system (Note that the cooling tower is not shown.)....... 6

Figure 4. CHP main steam extraction ........................................................................................................... 7

Figure 5. CHP extraction turbine .................................................................................................................. 8

Figure 6. CHP backpressure turbine ............................................................................................................. 9

Figure 7. Biomass storage options. Photos by (left) Warren Gretz, NREL 04736, and (right) Gerry 

Harrow, NREL 15041 ............................................................................................................ 11

Figure 8. DOE Southeast Clean Energy Application Center’s Wood Energy Calculator .......................... 15

Figure 9. Missouri logging residues. Illustration from “BioSAT”.............................................................. 17

Figure 10. Missouri marginal cost of logging residues. Illustration from “BioSAT”................................. 18

Figure 11. EAB map as of August 1, 2012. Illustration from “Maps and State EAB Information” .......... 20

Figure 12. Institutional wood energy users in Missouri. Illustration from “Wood2Energy”..................... 21

Figure 13. A portion of the Municipal Farm RE-Powering America’s Land Initiative study site.............. 24

Figure 14. CLUP map showing the numbered areas of the Municipal Farm site. Illustration from City of 

Kansas City 2012 ................................................................................................................... 25

Figure 15. Municipal Farm site overlaid on an aerial photograph. Photo from Bracker 2011 ................... 27

Figure 16. Former concrete plant at the Municipal Farm site. Photo by Gregg Tomberlin........................ 28

Figure 17. CLUP Area 13—east view of middle portion ........................................................................... 28

Figure 18. CLUP Area 13—site of the groundbreaking for the Eastwood Hills community garden ......... 29

Figure 19. CLUP Area 13—east-northeast view ........................................................................................ 29

Figure 20. The portion of the Municipal Farm site considered for biomass facility location..................... 30

Figure 21. Site topography.......................................................................................................................... 31

Figure 22. State rankings for energy consumption—the first 26 states. Illustration from EIA 2014.......... 33

Figure 23. State rankings for residential price of electricity—the lowest 10 states. Illustration from EIA 

2014........................................................................................................................................ 33

Figure 24. Missouri electricity production by source. Illustration from EIA 2014..................................... 34

Figure 25. Electric power generation in and around Missouri. Illustration from EIA 2014 ....................... 35

Figure 26. Potential loads near the proposed biomass CHP facility ........................................................... 36

Figure 27. Greenhouse site plan.................................................................................................................. 38

List of Tables

Table 1. Institutional Wood Energy Users in Missouri. Information from “Wood2Energy”..................... 22

Table 2. Biomass Electric Power Producers in Missouri. Information from “Wood2Energy” .................. 22

Table 3. EIA Residential Data 2011. Information from “Missouri State Energy Profile” 2014................ 32

Table 4. Missouri’s Ten Largest Plants by Generation Capacity as of 2010. Information from “EIA 860 

Detailed Data” 2013.............................................................................................................. 35

Table 5. Electrical Loads Near a Potential Biomass CHP Plant (Note that 2013 data were used for the 

radio tower for both years.).................................................................................................... 39

Table 6. Thermal Loads Near a Potential Biomass CHP Plant................................................................... 40

Table 7. Building Details and Thermal Loads—Base Case........................................................................ 49

Table 8. Financial Parameters Used in the Analysis................................................................................... 50

Table 9. Results of the Financial Analysis.................................................................................................. 50

Table 10. Yearly Cash Flows...................................................................................................................... 51

Table 11. Sensitivity Analysis for NPV...................................................................................................... 52
1

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1 Background and Scope of Work

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Solid Waste and Emergency 

Response Center for Program Analysis developed the RE-Powering America’s Land Initiative to 

encourage renewable energy development on current and formerly contaminated lands, landfills, 

and mine sites when it is aligned with the community’s vision for the site. The EPA engaged the 

U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to conduct 

feasibility studies to assess the viability of developing renewable energy generation facilities on 

contaminated sites. The Municipal Farm site in Kansas City, Missouri, was selected for a 

feasibility study under the RE-Powering Initiative.

Kansas City developed a document titled The Municipal Farm Sustainable Reuse Plan, which

was funded under the EPA’s Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Pilot Program (2012). This 

document is part of an area-wide planning approach to managing brownfield sites.

The area surrounding the Municipal Farm site has limited woody biomass to support a bioenergy 

project. We analyzed the potential to sell electricity to Kansas City Power and Light Company

(KCP&L)1 and to sell heat on-site to an Army National Guard installation and a commercial 

greenhouse.

Chapter 2 discusses the development of biomass energy on Superfund Sites. Chapter 3 contains 

an introduction to biomass heat and power technologies and equipment. Biomass properties, 

costs, and availability are covered in Chapter 4. The site and property are described in Chapter 5.

State and regional energy use are described in Chapter 6. Potential off-takers and associated 

loads are analyzed in Chapter 7.

1.1 Study Level and Uncertainty

This high-level analysis is intended to serve as a first step toward deciding whether conditions 

seem favorable for a biomass project at the Municipal Farm site. As such, there is a high level of 

uncertainty in most of the study components, including biomass availability and cost, equipment 

costs, operations and maintenance costs, annual energy use, and other figures.

Recommendations are provided in each relevant chapter for steps that will further reduce these 

uncertainties in the next level of analysis.

 1 KCP&L provided a tentative letter of support, which is included in Appendix A.
2

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2 Development of Biomass Energy on Superfund 

Sites

One very promising and innovative use of contaminated sites is to repurpose them for biomass 

power (biopower) systems. Biopower systems work well on Superfund sites where an adequate 

biomass fuel supply and favorable power sales rates exist.

The cleanup and reuse of potentially contaminated properties provides many benefits, including:

• Preserving greenfields

• Reducing blight

• Raising property values and creating jobs

• Allowing for access to existing infrastructure, including electric transmission lines and roads

• Enabling a potentially contaminated property to return to a productive and sustainable use.

By taking advantage of these potential benefits, biopower can provide viable, beneficial reuses—

in many cases generating revenue on a site that would otherwise go unused.

The Municipal Farm site in Kansas City, Missouri, is owned by the City of Kansas City. As with 

many contaminated or formerly contaminated sites, the local community has significant interest 

in the redevelopment of the site, and community engagement is critical to match future reuse 

options to the community’s vision for the site. The subject site has the potential to be used for 

functions beyond the proposed biopower project. Any potential use should align with the 

community vision for the site and should work to enhance the overall utility of the property.

Most states rely heavily on fossil fuels to operate their power plants. There are many compelling 

reasons to consider moving toward renewable energy sources and away from fossil fuels for 

power generation, including:

• Using fossil fuels to produce power is not sustainable.

• Burning fossil fuels can have negative effects on human health and the environment.

• Extracting and transporting fossil fuels can lead to accidental spills, which can be damaging 

to the environment and communities.

• Fluctuating electric costs are associated with fossil fuel–based power plants.

• Burning fossil fuels emits greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change.
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3 Bioenergy Technology

Biopower is the use of biomass to generate electricity. Biopower system technologies include 

direct firing, co-firing, gasification, pyrolysis, and anaerobic digestion. Most biopower plants are

direct-fired systems, thus this section is focused on this type of system.

Co-firing refers to mixing biomass with fossil fuels in conventional power plants. Coal-fired 

power plants can use co-firing systems to significantly reduce emissions, especially sulfur 

dioxide. 

Gasification systems use elevated temperatures and a reduced-oxygen environment to convert 

biomass into synthesis gas, or syngas, which is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide

(CO). The syngas can then be chemically converted into other fuels or products, burned in a 

conventional boiler, or used instead of natural gas in a gas turbine. Gas turbines are very much 

like jet engines, but they are used to turn electric generators instead of to propel a jet. Gas 

turbines are very efficient, but their overall system efficiency can be further improved by 

operating them in a combined cycle arrangement. During combined-cycle operation, the exhaust 

gases are used to boil water for steam to provide additional power generation or heat.

Pyrolysis is a thermal process that occurs without oxygen and produces syngas, liquids, and 

charcoal. These intermediate products can be used to produce heat and power or be reformed into 

liquid fuels and chemical products.

Anaerobic digestion is a process for producing biogas through biological degradation of organic 

matter without oxygen. The biogas can be used to produce heat or electricity.

3.1 Bioenergy Production

The amount of energy that can be economically produced by a biopower system depends on 

several factors, including the type of biomass, the technology employed, and numerous financial

factors. Biopower systems can be sized to supply internal energy needs only or sized larger to 

sell energy to the grid.2

 2 NREL has investigated small-scale biomass CHP systems—as small as 15 kW. Systems of this scale have been 

under development for several years, but they have not proven to be efficient and tend to be very sensitive to 

feedstock properties and particle size. Because of their lack of demonstrated feasibility, they are not considered 

commercial as of January 2014.
4

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Figure 1. Direct-fired biopower system. Photo by Wheelabrator Shasta Energy Co., NREL 07163

Figure 1 shows a typical biopower direct-fired system. These plants burn biomass feedstocks 

directly to produce steam. The steam is used to drive a turbine, which turns a generator to

produce electricity. 

In some biomass plants, turbine extraction steam from the power plant is also used for 

manufacturing processes or to heat buildings. Such CHP systems increase overall energy 

efficiency. This often makes economic sense when a large heat user (thermal host or steam host)

is located nearby. These systems normally operate 24 hours per day and 7 days per week, with 

several weeks of downtime per year for maintenance and repairs.

Plants of this type are not normally cycled with many starts and stops. Frequent cooling and 

reheating of equipment components leads to fatigue and failure, making it more cost-effective to 

operate around the clock, even though power rates may be lower during off-peak hours.

3.2 Types of Bioenergy Systems

A biopower system should be sized based on both the availability of cost-effective biomass 

feedstock and the energy requirements of the end user. The most common installation types are 

described below. In general, these systems can be divided into thermal energy only, power 

generation only, and CHP categories. The system choice is mostly dependent upon economics.

The cost of fuel, the rate that power can be sold, and the rate available for the sale of thermal 

energy are a few of the key economic parameters.

3.2.1 Thermal Energy Only

Figure 2 illustrates a “thermal energy only” system. Biomass energy is converted to steam, which 

can be used for heating, cooling, manufacturing, or a number of other industrial uses (shown as 

“boiler steam to load”). The steam is condensed as the energy is extracted, and the warm 

condensate is pumped back to the biomass facility, where it is reintroduced to the boiler and 

converted again to steam. This type of system can be economical because the inefficiencies 

associated with generating electric power on a small scale are avoided and the capital costs for a 
5

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steam turbine, condenser, cooling tower, circulating water pumps, and other items are not 

incurred. High-pressure, superheated steam is not required, making the boiler less expensive and 

easier to operate. This system is common and has been in use for many decades.

Finding a business that is located close enough to accept steam without lengthy piping systems is 

often challenging. In many cases when a steam host is present, it makes sense to generate both 

steam and electricity.

Figure 2. Thermal-only biomass energy system

3.2.2 Power Generation Only

Figure 3 illustrates a “power generation only” system. Biomass energy is converted into highpressure, superheated steam for introduction into a steam turbine. The turbine generates 

electricity at the most efficient rate practical; the amount of money spent on improving efficiency 

is typically dependent on the size of the system and other factors, with more effort directed 

toward efficiency with larger systems. This is usually an economic decision. 

The steam is condensed at very low pressures to maximize efficiency. This is accomplished in a 

condenser, which uses cooling water that typically comes from an evaporative cooling tower. It 

is also possible to use a dry type of air-cooled condenser. 
6

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Figure 3. Power generation–only biomass energy system (Note that the cooling tower is not 

shown.)

3.2.3 CHP

CHP, also called cogeneration, is the concurrent generation of multiple forms of energy in a 

single system. CHP system prime movers can include reciprocating engines, combustion or gas 

turbines, steam turbines, microturbines, and fuel cells. These systems are capable of using a 

variety of fuels, including natural gas, coal, oil, and alternative fuels. The thermal energy 

produced by the system can be used in direct applications or indirectly to produce steam, hot 

water, or chilled water. More than 60% of biomass power systems are configured as CHP

systems.

For biomass direct-fired systems, the most common CHP configuration consists of steam from a 

biomass-fired boiler directed to a steam turbine. At some point in the process—determined by 

required pressure—steam is extracted to provide heat to meet internal requirements of the facility 

or to sell to a local steam host. The steam can be taken from the power process via three primary 

methods:

1. Main steam extraction

2. Extraction turbine

3. Backpressure turbine

In a main steam extraction system, some of the boiler outlet steam is extracted from the main 

steam header, whereas the remainder is directed into the steam turbine. The extraction steam is at 

a high pressure and temperature, which would typically have to be reduced prior to the steam 

being delivered to the end user. The remaining steam runs through the entire length of the turbine 

and then discharges into a condenser at very low pressure (often below atmospheric pressure) to 

maximize the electric power generated. 

The condenser circulates large quantities of cooling water, which is typically cooled by 

evaporation in a cooling tower or by an air-cooled condenser (Figure 4). By far the most 
7

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common cooling method is to use a cooling tower, because it is less expensive and requires less 

power to operate, although a large quantity of water is evaporated. An air-cooled condenser is 

more expensive, but it is advantageous when large volumes of water are not available or where 

water is expensive. Warm condensate is pumped back to the biomass facility, where it is 

reintroduced to the boiler and converted again to steam.

This is not the most efficient method of producing electric energy, but it avoids the cost of a 

more expensive extraction turbine (described below).

Figure 4. CHP main steam extraction

An extraction turbine accepts all boiler steam at its inlet and outputs the required process steam 

at some intermediate point along the turbine steam path. This allows the process steam to 

produce electric power prior to its extraction, increasing the efficiency of the overall process.

The remaining steam continues through the lower pressure stages of the turbine and then 

discharges into a condenser (Figure 5).

The cost for an extraction turbine is typically higher and thus not normally utilized in smaller 

systems (less than approximately 10 MW).
8

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Figure 5. CHP extraction turbine

A backpressure turbine accepts all boiler steam at the steam turbine inlet and discharges all of the 

steam at the pressure required by the end steam user (Figure 6). Compared to the two previously 

discussed methods, this approach offers considerable cost savings. The steam turbine is much

less expensive because the lower-pressure sections of a turbine are the largest and costliest.

There is no need for a condenser, a cooling tower, or large circulating water pumps to push the 

cooling water through the condenser. The steam is typically condensed by the load and then

returns to the plant as warm condensate to be reheated and reintroduced to the system.

There are two disadvantages to this arrangement. First, the amount of electric power produced is 

greatly reduced as a result of the shortening of the turbine and the relatively high discharge 

pressure. Second, if the steam host reduces its steam requirements to a quantity less than the full 

steam turbine capacity, the steam turbine must be turned down or the excess steam must be 

condensed by way of an external steam condenser, which would require a cooling water source.
9

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Figure 6. CHP backpressure turbine

3.3 District Heating

District heating is defined as a central unit providing heat to nearby buildings and homes through 

a series of pipes carrying hot water or steam. Hot water is delivered through piping to a 

building’s conventional heating system where heat is released through a heat exchanger. After 

the heat is extracted, the water is piped back to the central heating plant. Pipes are typically 

double walled and generally buried underground. District heating systems are common in 

Scandinavia. In Denmark, district heating provides 60% of thermal energy, with 17% derived 

from biomass (DEFRA/BEER 2007). Lower temperature district heating systems are under 

development, using hot water as low as 122°F (Thorson, Christiansen, and Marek 2011). 

Capital costs are high for district heating systems as a result of the network of piping and heat 

exchangers and other equipment that must be installed for each customer. Economics are usually

best for district heating when waste heat can be obtained from a nearby power plant at minimal 

cost, when replacing electric heating systems, and in densely populated areas with high-rise 

apartments. Several cities and universities have district heating systems powered by traditional 

energy sources. Most were built many decades ago. 

District heating systems exist in the United States, but only two of them use biomass as an 

energy source.

• District Energy in St. Paul, Minnesota, operates a biomass district heating system (“District 

Energy St. Paul” 2013). It is the largest hot water district heating system in the United States. 

It is part of a CHP system that uses waste wood as a fuel source. It also includes a recently 

installed solar thermal system. 

• The University of New Hampshire meets all heat and electricity requirements from a district 

system using methane from a nearby landfill (UNH Media Relations 2007). Many other 

universities have district heating systems powered by traditional energy sources.

• Montpelier, Vermont, is in the process of building a biomass-fired district heating system for 

the state government, city government, schools, and portions of the downtown area. This will 

be an upgrade to an existing wood-fired system (“District Heat Montpelier” 2013).
10

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3.4 Biopower System Components

The following components comprise a typical direct-fired biopower system.

3.4.1.1 Major Components

• Fuel receiving, storage, and handling

• Combustion system and steam generator

• Steam turbine plus electrical generator

• Air pollution control

• Condenser and cooling tower

3.4.1.2 Other Equipment and Auxiliaries

• Stack and monitoring equipment

• Instrumentation and controls

• Ash handling

• Fans and blowers

• Water treatment

• Electrical equipment

• Pumps and piping

• Buildings

3.4.2 Fuel Receiving, Storage, and Handling 

Biomass can be received at a site by truck or rail. It can be delivered as chips or pellets, or as 

logs and brush that can be processed on-site into chips. Wood chips are typically stored in a fuel 

yard (exposed or covered) or in storage silos (Figure 7). Wood pellets are stored in silos and are 

easily handled and fed using standard equipment. Fuel handling may be fully automated or semiautomated, requiring some additional labor. A fully automated system is typically installed 

below grade. Wood chips are delivered by truck to the storage bin, and conveyor belts 

automatically feed the boiler. Automated systems are generally used to serve large facilities. 

Semi-automated systems have lower capital costs but require more labor. They typically include 

above-ground chip storage and a hopper with capacity sufficient to supply the boiler for a few

days. An operator moves woody biomass from the storage area to the hopper as needed. Operator 

workload is estimated at 60 to 90 minutes per day (BERC 2011). 

Small biomass power or CHP facilities require a minimum of 2 to 10 acres, depending on fuel 

storage methods and quantities required to be held on-site. 
11

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Fuel yard Fuel silo

Figure 7. Biomass storage options. Photos by (left) Warren Gretz, NREL 04736, and (right) Gerry 

Harrow, NREL 15041

3.4.3 Combustion System and Steam Generator

A direct-fired combustion system is the most common system for converting solid biomass fuel 

into energy. Fuel is typically burned on a grate or in a fluidized bed to create hot combustion 

gases that pass over a series of boiler tubes, transferring heat into water inside the tubes and 

creating steam. The combination of the burning apparatus and the heat transfer surface areas are 

typically referred to as the boiler.

Boilers are differentiated by their configuration, size, and the quality of the steam or hot water 

produced. Boiler size is most often measured by the fuel input in Btu per hour (Btu/h), but it may 

also be measured by output in Btu/h or in pounds per hour of steam produced. Stoker boilers and 

fluidized bed boilers are the two most commonly used types of boilers for biomass firing. These 

combustion systems can be fueled entirely by biomass fuel or co-fired with a combination of 

biomass and coal or other solid fuel (EPA CHP 2007).

The traveling grate stoker boiler introduces fuel at one end of the furnace. The grate slowly 

moves the fuel through the hot zone until combustion is complete and the ash falls off at the 

opposite end. The fuel is either dropped onto the grate and travels away from the feeder or it is 

thrown to the opposite end and comes back toward the feeder. The latter is called a spreader 

stoker. A fluidized bed boiler introduces feedstock into the bed with a heat transfer medium 

(typically sand) (Crawford, M.). The bed material is fluidized using high-pressure air from 

underneath the grate, creating a good mixing zone.

3.4.4 Steam Turbine

The steam turbine is a key component and major cost element for a biopower facility. In many 

cases, increased turbine efficiency can be achieved, but at a cost that must be assessed with 

regard to overall plant economics. The higher the steam inlet pressure and the lower the steam 

exhaust pressure, the more energy that can be extracted from the steam. These both come at a 

cost that would have to be accounted for in determining the economics of the system. Typically, 

smaller systems use lower pressure steam; larger systems can afford to operate at higher 

pressures, yielding more power production to compensate for the increased capital costs.
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3.4.5 Air Pollution Control

Biomass is a relatively clean fuel and contains lower quantities of the pollutants commonly 

found in coal and other solid fuels. The primary pollutants of concern in biomass combustion are 

CO, nitrogen oxides (NOX), and particulate matter.

CO emissions can be minimized through good combustion. Good air mixing will oxidize most 

CO molecules into carbon dioxide (CO2), which is not a regulated pollutant. Oxides of nitrogen 

can be controlled by either selective catalytic reduction (SCR) or selective non-catalytic 

reduction (SNCR). SNCR is accomplished by the introduction of nitrogenous reagents (urea or 

ammonia) at specific temperatures, creating a reducing reaction. SCR is a similar process but 

also uses a catalyst to achieve higher removal efficiencies.

Small ash particles, typically referred to as particulates or particulate matter, are captured in the 

fabric of large bags. The bags are pulsed occasionally to dislodge the dust into an ash hopper for 

removal. These systems are known as fabric filters or baghouses. Electrostatic precipitators are 

also commonly used for particulate removal.

EPA’s “Final Air Toxics Standards for Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional Boilers at Area 

Source Facilities” was released on February 1, 2013, and applies to biomass boilers. The 

following provisions apply to new biomass boilers (“Industrial/Commercial/Institutional Boilers 

and Process Heaters” 2013): 

• New boilers with heat input capacity greater than 10 MMBtu/h that are biomass-fired or 

oil-fired must meet GACT-based numerical emission limits for PM.

• New biomass-fired boilers with heat input capacity of 30 MMBtu/h or greater must have 

filterable PM of less than 3.0E–02 lb per MMBtu of heat input.

• New biomass-fired boilers with heat input capacity of between 10 and 30 MMBtu/h must 

have filterable PM of less than 7.0E–02 lb per MMBtu of heat input.

• New biomass-fired boilers with heat input capacity less than 10 MMBtu/h must: 

o Minimize the boiler’s start-up and shutdown periods and conduct start-ups and 

shutdowns according to the manufacturer’s recommended procedures. If 

manufacturer’s recommended procedures are not available, you must follow a 

similar design for which manufacturer’s recommended procedures are available

(Federal Register 2013).

3.4.6 Condensers and Cooling Towers

As steam exits a turbine, it is condensed for reuse in the cycle. The most common condensing 

method uses a steam surface condenser and a cooling tower. The surface condenser is a large 

vessel filled with tubes in which cool water from the cooling tower is circulated. The steam 

flows over the tubes, which cools it and condenses it into a hot well at the bottom of the

condenser. The cooling water that leaves the condenser is pumped back to the cooling tower,

which typically uses evaporative cooling to cool the water for reintroduction into the condenser.

A large amount of water is lost to evaporation from the cooling tower, and that water needs to be 

continuously replaced. In areas where water is scarce and expensive, this introduces a large 

operating cost. In these cases, the water is commonly cooled by an air-cooled system. Compared 
13

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to a wet cooling tower, the capital costs for this equipment are higher, and the electric power to 

operate the fans is higher, but water consumption is significantly reduced.
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4 Biomass Feedstock—Properties, Cost, and 

Availability

In this section, we study the properties, cost, and availability of woody feedstock for a biomass 

facility in Kansas City.

4.1 Biomass Properties

The operating success of a biomass facility is determined by several important properties of the 

biomass feedstock, including its energy content, moisture content (MC), ash content, cleanliness, 

and particle size distribution.

In Missouri, biomass MC3 typically ranges from 40% in summer and fall to 50% in winter.

Moisture content affects the efficiency of a biomass combustion process in a nonlinear manner. 

For example, a biomass system operating under a specific set of conditions might have a 

recoverable energy of 4,000 Btu per pound of 40% MC biomass, but the same system operating 

with 50% MC fuel might produce only 3,133 Btu per pound—a decrease of more than 21%.

If feedstock prices are not adjusted for changing moisture content, the cost per Btu greatly 

increases with increasing moisture content.

The Southeast Clean Energy Application Center’s Wood Energy Calculator4 can be used to 

explore the effect of moisture content on energy production. Figure 8 shows an example of the 

program’s inputs and outputs.

 3 In this report, MC is specified on a wet basis—i.e., MC, wb = weight of water divided by (weight of water plus 

weight of dry wood). In some industries, MC is reported on a dry basis—i.e. MC, db = weight of water divided by 

weight of dry wood. Note that 50% MC, wb = 100% MC, db.

4 Accessed June 9, 2014: http://www.southeastchptap.org/resources/calculators.aspx
15

This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications.

Figure 8. DOE Southeast Clean Energy Application Center’s Wood Energy Calculator

4.2 Biomass Cost—Potential Tipping Fees 

An important factor in assessing the feasibility of a biomass project is the cost of the resource. 

Biomass collection facilities are located near the Municipal Farm site. These facilities receive a 

tipping fee for accepting woody biomass. We estimate that this fee is approximately $22.50 per 

ton of this material. However, this money is already being collected, so it would not be an 

additional source of revenue. Also, residents may deposit material for free on certain days, and 

the city collects curbside wood waste on a biannual basis at no cost to residents. Therefore, 

actual fees collected from fee payers may be significantly less than stated. This study assumes 

that the material is available at no cost, but tipping fees for collecting wood waste is not 

considered a source of income for a biomass project on the site.

4.3 Biomass Availability—Resources and Resource Consumption

Even though many materials are included in the category of biomass—crop residues, animal 

manures, food waste, and municipal solid waste—in this study, we focus on woody biomass as a 

feedstock for a biopower project.

5

Feedstock for a biomass energy plant is generally composed of low-valued woody components, 

often resulting from the harvest of more valuable material such as saw logs for dimensional 

lumber. This type of wood can also result from land maintenance and clearing operations, 

thinning for fire mitigation, urban tree trimming, storm cleanup, power line right-of-way 

 5 For details regarding the availability by county of other biomass in Missouri, see Fink and Fink 2006.
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maintenance, disposal of diseased trees (e.g., beetle kill), etc. Note that the material resulting 

from these processes is generally considered a waste product or results from procedures that 

improve forest health or reduce risks of catastrophic wildfires.

Additional materials will be available from the eradication of exotic species (honeysuckle, tree of 

heaven), which will be pursued at Municipal Farm in partnership with the Missouri Department

of Conservation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and City of Kansas City Parks and Recreation 

Department (Shaw 2012).

4.3.1 Biomass Assessment Tools

Biomass Site Assessment Tools (BioSAT 2007–2014) are a set of web-based tools that provide 

data to help with biomass collection and processing for sites in 33 states in the eastern United 

States. Data coverage on the BioSAT website includes Missouri and other Midwest and eastern 

states (plus Texas and Oklahoma), but it does not include Kansas.6

Figure 9 shows logging residues for Missouri, and Figure 10 shows the cost of those residues.

Both of these figures were produced on the BioSAT site.7 Note that this data indicates that 

biomass availability in the area around the Municipal Farm site is fairly low.

 6 Given the site’s proximity to Kansas, any biomass system at the site presumably would have also access to 

available biomass in that state as well. However, given the site’s other limitations (e.g., lack of onsite and nearby 

load), having the biomass data for Kansas would not impact the overall conclusions reached in this study.

7 Images from James H. Perdue
17

This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications.

Figure 9. Missouri logging residues. Illustration from “BioSAT”
18

This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications.

Figure 10. Missouri marginal cost of logging residues. Illustration from “BioSAT”

4.3.2 Biomass Available from Collection Near the Site

The City of Kansas City contracts with Missouri Organic—a local compost and mulch 

business—to operate two leaf and brush drop-off sites, one at I-470 and Raytown Road and the 

other at 1815 N. Chouteau Trafficway. The leaf and brush collections could be delivered to the 

Municipal Farm location, and it would be possible to create an on-site leaf and brush drop-off 

center to accept material at the Municipal Farm site for a biopower project (City of Kansas City 

2007). The total collection is 60,000 to 70,000 cubic yards per year (Shaw 2012). At five cubic 

yards per ton, that is 12,000 to 14,000 green tons (GT) of biomass per year, or 33 to 38 GT per 

day.
19

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The collection fee is $4.50 per cubic yard, which—using the same conversion factor of five 

cubic yards per ton—is approximately $22.50 per GT.

In addition, railroad ties may be available in the future if the Rock Island Rail Corridor—which

would turn the unused railroad track into a hiking and biking path—is developed. Part of this 

rails-to-trails project would be adjacent to the Municipal Farm project area (Shaw 2012). These 

railroad ties might be useable in a biopower plant, but they would first need to be tested to ensure 

that they would not produce harmful emissions when combusted.

4.3.3 Potential Biomass from Emerald Ash Borer

The emerald ash borer (EAB) is an invasive species of beetle that is thought to have entered the 

United States near Detroit, Michigan, in 2002. Since the original infestation, EAB have been 

spreading radially across the United States and southern Canada. It has reached as far west as 

Kansas. According to the Emerald Ash Borer informational website, on July 23, 2008, EAB was 

confirmed in Missouri near Lake Wappapello (“Missouri Information” 2013).

The Emerald Ash Borer website has links to several web pages focusing on EAB in Missouri, 

including the following:

• The University of Missouri Extension EAB Program:

http://extension.missouri.edu/emeraldashborer/;

• Missouri Department of Conservation EAB Management site: http://mdc.mo.gov/yourproperty/your-trees-and-woods/tree-diseases-and-pests/emerald-ash-borer-management;

• Missouri Department of Agriculture EAB site:

http://mda.mo.gov/plants/pests/emeraldash.php; and the

• Missouri Department of Natural Resources Missouri State Parks EAB site:

http://mostateparks.com/page/54116/emerald-ash-borer.
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Figure 11. EAB map as of August 1, 2012. Illustration from “Maps and State EAB Information”

On July 25, 2012, EAB was confirmed in Kansas City, Missouri (“Where EAB Has Been 

Found” 2014). On December 6, 2012, the city released a report titled Emerald Ash Borer and Its 

Impact to the Urban Forest of Kansas City, Missouri (Kansas City Parks and Recreation 2012).

This study reports (pp. 2–3):

In Kansas City, there are roughly 20,000 Ash trees currently on public property 

under the jurisdiction of Forestry Operations. Approximately 3,000 of these are 

on Boulevards and Parkways. The number of private residential property Ash 

trees is estimated at 120,000. There are also a large number of Ash trees in 

Kansas City’s forested areas, many of which are public property. A 2010 MARC

[Mid-America Regional Council] survey estimates that we have as many as 

400,000 Ash trees on public, private and forested lands within Kansas City.

Estimates are that it will take approximately ten years to spread throughout the 

entire geographic area of Kansas City. The number of Ash tree deaths will be 

small at first, but will compound rapidly each year until nearly 100% of the Ash 

trees in Kansas City are affected.

The height of a fully grown white ash tree is between 65 and 100 feet with a diameter between 

two and five feet. Based on data derived for oak and hickory trees (Myers, Polak, and Stortz 

1975), we estimate that a 65-foot-tall tree with a diameter-at-breast height (dbh, a common 

forestry term) of 30 inches would weigh six to eight tons, and a 100-foot tree with a dbh of 60 

inches would weigh 30 to 45 tons.
21

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Using these very rough mass estimates, assuming smaller trees outnumber larger trees, and 

without specific size distributions for Kansas City, for the purposes of this analysis we use an 

average weight of 11 GT per tree.

If the entire tree inventory were to die from EAB, and assuming that the mortality occurred 

evenly during a 10-year period (which we acknowledge is highly unlikely, but useful for a first 

approximation), the average biomass available from ash trees killed by EAB would be 

approximately 440,000 GT per year.

To be conservative, we assumed that 20% of this material would be collected and available for a 

biopower facility at Municipal Farm. This equals 88,000 GT per year, or approximately 240 GT

per day.

4.3.4 Biomass Consumption in Missouri

In addition to knowing the quantities of biomass produced, it is important to understand the 

existing biomass consumption in an area. Figure 12 shows institutional facilities in Missouri that 

use biomass (“Wood2Energy” 2013). Note that there are several institutional biomass consumers 

in Missouri, but none near the Municipal Farm site.

Figure 12. Institutional wood energy users in Missouri. Illustration from “Wood2Energy”

Table 1 provides some details about the facilities shown in Figure 12. For the electronic version 

of this report, the facility name in each line of the table includes an embedded URL to a

wood2energy.org web page, with additional information about each facility.
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This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications.

Table 1. Institutional Wood Energy Users in Missouri. Information from “Wood2Energy”

Facility Name City County Facility Type

Anheuser-Busch St. Louis St. Louis Other

Ellington Schools Ellington Reynolds School

Eminence Ri Elementary School Eminence Shannon School

Gainesville High School Gainesville Ozark School

Liberty High School Mountain View Howell School

Northwest Missouri State University Maryville Nodaway University/College

Office of Administration FMDC Licking Texas Correctional facility

Perry County School Main Campus Perryville Perry School

Steelville Elementary and Middle School Steelville Crawford School

University of Missouri at Rolla Rolla Phelps University/College

University of Missouri at Columbia Columbia Boone University/College

The only biomass power producers in Missouri are located in Columbia, at the University of 

Missouri. Table 2 provides information about them. The University of Missouri plant is a 

combined-cycle heat and power plant that integrates a gas turbine with a biomass-fired fluidized 

bed boiler to produce heat, cooling, and electricity. It was completed in December 2012 and is 

expected to burn more than 100,000 tons of biomass per year. The University of Missouri has a 

second boiler in which biomass is co-fired with coal.

Table 2. Biomass Electric Power Producers in Missouri. Information from “Wood2Energy”

Facility Name City County Facility Type

Columbia Municipal Power Plant Columbia Boone Electric utility (co-firing)

University of Missouri at Columbia Columbia Boone 100% biomass

4.3.5 Biomass Summary

Regarding potential biomass availability, we estimate that approximately 12,000 to 14,000 GT of 

biomass per year could be collected at the leaf and brush site and that there is the potential for an 

additional 88,000 GT per year as a result of mortalities caused by emerald ash borer. However,

the availability of material from EAB is projected to be limited to a 10-year supply.8

Biomass material available from leaf and brush collection, including the potential materials from 

EAB mortalities, should earn a tipping fee of $20 to $23 per GT. Feedstock demand in excess of 

that amount would incur costs of $35 to $55 per dry ton in disposal costs.

Tools for assessing biomass availability in Missouri include:

• BioSAT: http://www.biosat.net/

• “Wood2Energy”: http://www.wood2energy.org

 8 This ten-year limit may be conservative. Although it is projected to take 10 years for EAB to spread throughout the 

region, after a tree has become affected it may take considerably longer for the tree to die, and longer still for the 

City of Kansas City or private entities to contract for removal services. According to the State of Michigan, “most of 

the canopy will be dead within 2 years of when symptoms are first observed” 

(http://www.emeraldashborer.info/faq.cfm#sthash.aqZ5DBpM.dpuf). Tree death occurs within 2 to 4 years of initial 

infestation. (http://www.emeraldashborer.info/cdfiles/informationeducation/what_is_eabfactsheetOH.pdf). 

Therefore, material from EAB may continue to flow into collection facilities for up to 14 years, but at lower 

volumes.
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• “Missouri Woody BioMass Assessment Tool”: http://projects.cares.missouri.edu/MoBAT.

9

4.4 Recommended Activities for the Next Level of Analysis

The wide range of predicted available biomass for this region highlights the importance of 

performing a site-specific biomass resource assessment for a bioenergy facility.

As a next step, we recommend contacting foresters, wood utilization specialists, lumber mills, 

and others to obtain a firmer analysis of available biomass, biomass properties, and biomass cost.

In addition, Kansas City, long a major goods warehousing and distribution hub for trucks and 

rail, has a large pallet industry that should be consulted for material. Also, deconstruction is 

growing in Kansas City as a method of removing structures, aided by local nonprofits such as

Heartland Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Wood material recovered from these and conventional 

demolition operations should be considered. In addition, in 2012 an NREL biomass study project 

based on crop residue from the surrounding vicinity was completed for Lawrence, Kansas, which 

is less than 50 miles from the Municipal Farm site. Crop residue might be considered as a 

supplement feedstock.

10

 9 As of February 10, 2014, the site is down. It is in the process of being migrated to a different server (Stelzer 2014). 

10 It is not always possible to use crop residues in a biomass plant because of differences in handling and feed 

characteristics with wood chips. In addition, crop residues sometimes contain chemical components, such as silica, 

that can increase wear and maintenance requirements of equipment. Finally, crop residues tend to be seasonal, 

requiring either long-term storage or fuel flexibility, which increases capital and operating costs.
24

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5 Site Description

The property for this analysis is located in Kansas City, Missouri, and is owned by the City of 

Kansas City. It is divided into several lots, with a total area of 441 acres11 “located on both sides 

of I-435 (east and west) and south of Raytown Road and the Blue River” (Bracker 2011).12 The 

east portion includes 187 acres, and the west portion includes 254 acres.13 The eastern parcel 

includes a closed landfill, which site managers consider could be a good location for a solar 

facility.14

Figure 13. A portion of the Municipal Farm RE-Powering America’s Land Initiative study site

In 2012, the City of Kansas City published The Municipal Farm Sustainable Reuse Plan, which 

is a comprehensive, long-term plan to develop the most beneficial, integrated, and sustainable 

 11 This is an updated figure based on the completed Municipal Farm Sustainable Reuse Plan (2012). 12 The site is within the Eastwood Hills neighborhood and includes diverse ecosystems (e.g., the Blue River, a 

floodplain, and heavy woods), transportation networks (I-435, railroads, and local roads), and land uses (industrial, 

residential, commercial, and the Truman Sports Complex).

13 This is an updated figure based on the completed Municipal Farm Sustainable Reuse Plan (2012). 14 A separate study, funded by the City of Kansas City, investigating the feasibility of photovoltaics at Municipal 

Farm is under way.
25

This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications.

uses for the Municipal Farm site.15 The plan conceptualizes the site as divided into 21 numbered 

areas; describes the brownfield status, land uses, natural resources, and infrastructure of each 

area; and makes recommendations for the use of each section and the site as a whole.16 Figure 

14, which is extracted from the conceptual land use plan (CLUP) for the site, is a map of the site 

divided into numbered areas.

Figure 14. CLUP map showing the numbered areas of the Municipal Farm site. Illustration from 

City of Kansas City 2012

There are several active operations on the site, including a National Guard Armory, athletic 

fields, the Kansas City animal shelter, a police firing range, and a police bomb detonation area. 

Some of these facilities have an electrical load that could be served by a biomass power facility.

 15 The plan was funded by a Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Pilot Program grant from the EPA. Municipal Farm

was one of the initial 26 projects to be awarded this grant. 

16 Details regarding each numbered parcel can be found on p. 51 of CLUP.
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There is rail service to the western portion of the site, as well as water and sanitary sewer, but no 

storm sewer. The site is mostly flat with portions in the floodplain; Areas 2 through 4 and Areas 

9 through 18 are mostly out of the floodplain.17 Floodplain boundaries are subject to incremental 

change as new maps reflecting the re-channelization of the Blue River are officially adopted 

(Shaw 2012). Areas where a project cannot be sited include surface water and wetlands,

occupied structures, the firing range, and land occupied by radio towers. The site has been 

described as having good truck access on Coal Mine Road from Blue Parkway (Shaw 2012).

There is currently a planned expansion of the National Guard Armory and a proposed 

commercial greenhouse development at the site. In general, sustainable commercial, industrial, 

institutional, and/or recreational development is anticipated in the future (Shaw 2012). This 

report considers other uses for this property.

Multiple brownfield concerns throughout the site have been identified, and some have been 

assessed. Historical uses of the site included a former concrete batch plant, a mine, a police firing 

range, a former municipal landfill, a separate landfill for contaminated river sediment, and a 

hazardous waste storage facility (the Health Emergency Hazmat site). The site also hosted a 

working farm and dairy, orchards, cemeteries, a hospital, and a prison. Figure 15 shows the site 

layout and areas of current activity.

 17 See Figure 14 for a map showing the numbered areas.
27

This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications.

Figure 15. Municipal Farm site overlaid on an aerial photograph. Photo from Bracker 2011

To address the brownfield concerns, the Municipal Farm Sustainable Reuse Plan included an indepth investigation of known and suspected environmental data and concerns for each area, titled 

the Municipal Farm Brownfields Area-Wide Plan. Reports, records, and existing data—similar to 

that evaluated by a Phase I environmental site assessment—were collected for each area, 

evaluated by environmental professionals, and used to develop a ranking of relative 

environmental concerns, data uncertainties, and recommendations for future assessments. Based 

on the work of the Brownfields Area-Wide Plan, and at the request of the city to investigate 

priority development areas of the site, the EPA conducted Phase I and limited Phase II 

environmental site assessments in 2013 for Areas 2 through 4, Area 13, and Area 19. Area 13 is 

the location of the proposed commercial greenhouse and proposed biomass facility; the National 

Guard Armory is nearby, in Area 11. No significant environmental impacts were identified—and 

no further environmental assessments were recommended—for these assessed areas. 

5.1 Site and Area Photos

The photograph in Figure 16 was taken by NREL during the site visit in October 2012.
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Figure 16. Former concrete plant at the Municipal Farm site. Photo by Gregg Tomberlin

The following photographs show Area 13, the former site of the Municipal Correctional 

Institution (MCI). The images were provided by Andrew Bracker, Brownfields Coordinator for 

the City of Kansas City, Missouri.

Figure 17. CLUP Area 13—east view of middle portion
29

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Figure 18. CLUP Area 13—site of the groundbreaking for the Eastwood Hills community garden

Figure 19. CLUP Area 13—east-northeast view
30

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5.2 Site Location and Nearby Loads

A biomass facility could be located on the site in a region that includes parts of Areas 12, 14, and 

15, as shown in Figure 20. The facility may include a city leaf and brush drop-off center where 

wood waste could be accepted, ground, and managed to supply feedstock. This location is near 

an existing National Guard Armory, an 83,000-square-foot facility in Area 11, and a future 

100,000-square-foot commercial greenhouse and corporate office in Area 13. It is also close to 

an existing animal control facility in Area 19, an existing police helicopter unit in Area 18, and a 

radio tower on the east end of Area 13. Details of these site loads are covered in Chapter 7.

Figure 20. The portion of the Municipal Farm site considered for biomass facility location

The proposed biomass facility site includes the former central buildings and facilities of the farm 

operations at Municipal Farm. As shown in Figure 21, the location topography is uneven—it 

includes a gently sloped portion in Area 12 and rises to a generally level area in the north part of 

Area 15. An existing access road reaches all portions of the proposed site, and the city is 

planning improvements to portions of the road to accommodate heavy vehicles.
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Figure 21. Site topography

5.3 Utility Provider

KCP&L is the electric utility serving the Municipal Farm site. They have provided a tentative 

letter of support, a copy of which is included in Appendix A. KCP&L operates a solar renewable 

rebate program and has the capacity for and experience in renewable energy projects. Utility 

staff reviewed a preliminary draft of this report and agreed to discuss details of this biomass 

study and provide input. 

5.4 Recommended Activities for the Next Level of Analysis

Existing bioenergy facilities range in size from a few acres up to hundreds of acres. Some of this 

space is required for equipment, and some is required for feedstock storage. As part of the next 

level of analysis, it is important to determine the space required by a biomass combined heat and 

power (CHP) facility, including fuel storage, and if space is available that is compatible with 

other potential uses on the site.
32

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6 State and Local Energy and Utility Details

In this section, we provide some background information about energy production and 

consumption in Missouri as well as information about the electric utility serving the site.

6.1 U.S. Energy Information Administration

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) (“Profile Overview” 2013) provides utility 

data by state and sector (“Data Tables” 2013) Tables of data by sector for Missouri are included 

below.

Table 3. EIA Residential Data 2011. Information from “Missouri State Energy Profile” 2014

According to the EIA, Missouri ranks 25th highest among all states in energy consumption per 

person.

Missouri Quick Facts

• The Rockies Express (REX) is a 42-inch, 1,679-mile natural gas pipeline 

stretching from Colorado to Ohio. The REX West portion of the System 

passes near Kansas City before terminating in northeast Missouri where it 

meets the REX East pipeline.

• Missouri was the first State west of the Mississippi River to produce coal 

commercially.

• Coal supplied 83% of Missouri’s net electricity generation in 2013.

• Missouri has one nuclear power plant, Callaway Nuclear Generating Station, 

which in 2013 contributed 9% of the state’s net electricity generation.

• Renewable energy resources accounted for nearly 3% of Missouri’s net 

electricity generation in 2013; most of that generation came from 

conventional hydroelectric power and wind.

Last updated in March 27, 2014.
33

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Figure 22. State rankings for energy consumption—the first 26 states. Illustration from EIA 2014

Missouri pays the 20th highest amount for natural gas, at an average of $9.95 per million Btu, 

and is at the low end for the cost of electricity, at an average of 8.95 cents per kWh (residential 

sector).

Figure 23. State rankings for residential price of electricity—the lowest 10 states. Illustration from

EIA 2014

As shown in Figure 24, by far the largest fuel for electricity production in Missouri is coal, with 

production of nearly 7,000 GWh per year. Second is nuclear, at slightly less than 1,000 GWh/yr

(“Profile Overview” 2013). Approximately 3% of Missouri’s annual electricity generation is 

from hydropower and other renewable energy sources.
34

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Figure 24. Missouri electricity production by source. Illustration from EIA 2014

Figure 25 shows power generation by type in Missouri and the surrounding states. According to 

the EIA, there are only two biomass power plants in Missouri,

18 both of which are landfill-gasto-energy plants: a 2.7-MW Ameresco plant in Jefferson City and a 3-MW plant in Springfield. 

There are other landfill-gas-to-energy plants in neighboring states.

 18 The University of Missouri does burn 10% biomass in their solid-fuel boilers, and it has begun the phased start-up 

of a 100% biomass fueled boiler in December 2012. See http://mizzoumag.missouri.edu/2012/12/mu-fires-upbiomass-boiler (accessed June 2013).
35

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Figure 25. Electric power generation in and around Missouri. Illustration from EIA 2014

Table 4 shows the ten largest electric generating plants in Missouri as of 2010.

Table 4. Missouri’s Ten Largest Plants by Generation Capacity as of 2010. Information from “EIA 

860 Detailed Data” 2013

Rank Plant Primary Energy 

Source

Operating Company Net Capacity 

(MW)

1 Labadie Coal Union Electric Company 2,407

2 Iatan Coal KCP&L 1,555

3 Rush Island Coal Union Electric Company 1,204

4 Callaway Nuclear Union Electric Company 1,190

5 New Madrid Coal Associated Electric Coop, Inc. 1,160

6 Thomas Hill Coal Associated Electric Coop, Inc. 1,125

7 Sioux Coal Union Electric Company 986

8 Hawthorn Coal KCP&L 979

9 Meramec Coal Union Electric Company 951

10 Aries Power Project Gas Dogwood Energy, LLC 614

MW = Megawatt
36

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7 Potential Heat and Power Loads

We investigated the possibility of using biomass to serve heat and electrical loads near the mostprobable location of a biomass plant at the Municipal Farm site. In this section, we discuss the 

loads, and in Chapter 8, we present the results of the analysis of heating, power, and CHP 

systems to meet these loads.

Typically, a biomass plant should be sized based on electricity and/or heat demand from nearby 

loads. Figure 26, which is a duplicate of Figure 20, shows potential energy users near the 

proposed biomass facility. Thermal and electrical loads have been provided for the police 

helicopter unit, the Kansas City Armory, and the radio tower.

19 In addition, projected loads for a 

future greenhouse were also provided.

Figure 26. Potential loads near the proposed biomass CHP facility 

For these facilities, the electrical load from October 2011 to September 2012 averaged 

approximately 77,000 kWh per month, for an hourly average of approximately 92 kW. The 

 19 The radio tower has only an electrical load, no thermal load.
37

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thermal load for the same period was approximately 2,700 therms20 per month, with the peak 

months (December and January) reaching approximately 8,200 therms.

Individual facilities are described below.

7.1 Army National Guard Armory

An existing Army National Guard Armory facility is located in Area 11 of the Municipal Farm 

site. The size of the facility is approximately 83,000 square feet. 

Of the facilities analyzed, the National Guard Armory is by far the largest electrical and thermal 

load. According to utility records supplied by the National Guard Armory, during a 12-month 

period the facility consumed an average of 750,000 kWh per year and 26,000 therms of natural 

gas per year. The City of Kansas City contacted the Missouri National Guard energy manager,

who has indicated a willingness to discuss the possible use of renewable energy outputs to help 

reduce utility costs and meet agency goals for the utilization of renewable energy.

Funding was recently approved to expand the facility by adding 8,500 square feet (Bracker 

2013). If the loads scale with the building size, this would increase the electrical load to 

approximately 825,000 kWh per year and the thermal load to approximately 29,000 therms per 

year.

The distance from the proposed biomass plant site to the National Guard Armory is 

approximately 1,000 feet.

7.2 Greenhouse

A proposal has been received from Missing Ingredient, LLC, to build a commercial greenhouse 

and headquarters/office building at the Municipal Farm site. The office building would be 

approximately 10,000 square feet, and the greenhouse would be approximately 100,000 square 

feet, with the option of adding a second building reserved for the future. It is likely that the 

greenhouse would be located in Area 13, next to the existing community garden (Bracker 2013). 

All of these facilities are shown in Figure 27.

Missing Ingredient has indicated in their development plan that they would like to include 100

kW of photovoltaic panels in addition to the greenhouse.

In addition to helping to meet thermal and electrical loads at the greenhouse, a biopower plant 

could supply CO2 to the greenhouse to increase plant growth. For most greenhouse crops, the 

rate of photosynthesis increases with increasing CO2 levels, up to a CO2 level of approximately 

1,300 parts per million (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs 2013). Other 

greenhouses have used biomass boilers to provide CO2 to increase plant growth rate.

The commercial greenhouse is designed to include solar panels to supplement conventional 

power. The city has discussed the potential development of a biomass facility, and the 

greenhouse developers have indicated an interest in discussing the use of heat and possibly 

power.

 20 One therm is equal to 100,000 Btu. One hundred cubic feet of natural gas (1 CCF) is approximately 1 therm.
38

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The distance from the proposed biomass plant site to the greenhouse site is approximately 1,100 

feet. (If the plant is shifted south, that would reduce the distance to the largest loads—the armory 

and the greenhouse—which would reduce costs for construction and for operations and 

maintenance. This would probably make sense if no other large loads are to be located at the 

north end of the property. It might be even better to co-locate the biomass plant with the 

greenhouse and supply electricity, heat, and CO2 directly to the greenhouse.)

Figure 27. Greenhouse site plan

7.3 Other Loads

The existing animal shelter is expected to be relocated, so it was not included in this analysis. 

However, the Sustainable Reuse Plan recommends commercial or institutional redevelopment 

for Area 19, so a future utility load for the site is expected. The existing police helicopter facility 

in Area 18 utilizes an average of 163,000 kWh per year. Long-term plans include relocation of 

the police helicopter unit. The Municipal Farm Sustainable Reuse Plan recommends commercial 

or institutional redevelopment for Area 18 also, so a future utility load for this site is expected.

The distance from the biomass plant site to the animal shelter location is approximately 1,000 

feet, and the distance to the police helicopter unit is approximately 1,700 feet.
39

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7.4 Summary

The total current electrical loads for the site are shown in Table 5,

21 and thermal loads are shown 

in Table 6. Some utility data were unavailable at the time of this study, so an approximate 

analysis was performed. For the electrical analysis, we used data from October 2011 to 

September 2012 (except for the radio tower data, which was from 2013) to determine an annual 

energy load of 927 MWh per year and a peak monthly average power demand of 141 kW.

The thermal data is sparser than the electrical data. The highest loads occur in December and 

January, with use for both months at approximately 8,200 therms. 

Table 5. Electrical Loads Near a Potential Biomass CHP Plant (Note that 2013 data were used for

the radio tower for both years.)

 21 An inventory of power loads and some heat loads at Municipal Farm has been created. Expected loads for the 

greenhouse have been provided, although installation of a photovoltaic system is being planned, to supplement 

power needs. However, some existing uses (such as the animal shelter and the small radio tower) have not been 

factored.

Electrical J F M A M J J A S O N D

Site

Helicopter Unit (28) a 2,528 3,004 2,139 1,237 626 1,138 1,593 2,096 1,901 995 716 822 1,566

Helicopter Unit (28) b 13,600 14,000 12,000 10,560 10,400 12,000 12,080 14,320 13,040 10,000 10,000 12,400 12,033

Kansas City Armory 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 57,146 56,987 58,747 57,627

Animal Control? 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Radio Tower (usage in 2013) 1,795 954 976 1,248 1,337 1,284 1,310 1,346 1,230 1,184 1,266 1,266 1,266

Greenhouse (estimated) 0 0

2011 Total 17,923 17,958 15,115 13,045 12,363 14,422 14,983 17,762 16,171 69,325 68,969 73,235 29,273

Helicopter Unit (28) a 1,920 1,930 1,406 1,028 909 1,605 2,306 2,470 1,506 941 372 1,490

Helicopter Unit (28) b 12,640 11,840 11,280 10,240 11,520 11,600 13,680 15,120 13,040 10,880 10,480 12,029

Kansas City Armory 56,243 53,658 56,770 54,882 61,581 72,104 87,607 74,935 60,380 64,240

Animal Control? 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Radio Tower (usage in 2013) 1,795 954 976 1,248 1,337 1,284 1,310 1,346 1,230 1,184 1,266 1,266 1,266

Greenhouse (estimated) 0 0

2012 Total 72,598 68,382 70,432 67,398 75,347 86,593 104,903 93,871 76,156 13,005 12,118 67,346

#days 31 28 31 30 31 30 31 31 30 31 30 31 365

kW avg 98 102 95 94 101 120 141 126 106 17 17 92

2011 kWh/month

2012 kWh/month

Monthly 

average
40

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Table 6. Thermal Loads Near a Potential Biomass CHP Plant

7.5 Recommended Activities for the Next Level of Analysis

We recommend the following activities:

• Follow-up with the Army National Guard to assess their interest in purchasing heat and/or 

electricity from a biomass facility and to help estimate the increased future loads (SladeSevener 2013).

• Contact Missing Ingredient, LLC, to determine their expected loads and to assess their 

interest in purchasing heat, electricity, and CO2 from a biomass facility.

• Estimate other potential thermal and electrical loads resulting from future development. 

Gas (therms/mo) J F M A M J J A S O N D

Site

Helicopter Unit (28) a 1,040 1,434 829 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,324 1,265 491

Helicopter Unit (28) b 1,137 1,567 906 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,447 1,382 537

Kansas City Armory 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,690 3,902 5,533 3,708

Animal Control? 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Radio Tower (usage in 2013) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Greenhouse (estimated) 0 0

2011 Total 2,176 3,001 1,735 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,690 6,672 8,180 1,955

Helicopter Unit (28) a 1,144 1,602 1,215 600 0 0 0 0 0 507

Helicopter Unit (28) b 1,250 1,751 1,328 656 0 0 0 0 0 554

Kansas City Armory 5,797 4,214 2,062 942 587 199 92 195 815 1,656

Animal Control? 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Radio Tower (usage in 2013) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Greenhouse (estimated) 0 0

2012 Total 8,192 7,567 4,605 2,198 587 199 92 195 815 0 0 0 2,717

#days 31 28 31 30 31 30 31 31 30 31 30 31

therms/hr avg 1.1 1.1 0.6 0.3 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0

2011 (therms/mo)

2012 (therms/mo)

Monthly 

average
41

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8 Potential Energy Generation

We performed preliminary evaluations for the use of three biomass technologies on the 

Municipal Farm site: heat only, electricity only, and CHP.

Biomass heating would be the simplest option for the site; there are several types of 

commercially available heat-only systems.

The biomass electric-only option would add considerable cost and complexity compared to the 

heat-only option; biomass CHP would be the most complex and have the highest costs.

Brief discussions of these options are provided below, starting with a system to provide only heat 

to the facilities. We then discuss electric-only systems and finish with CHP.

8.1 Heat Only

Several types of biomass heating systems are available, including simple woodstoves, pellet 

stoves, pellet furnaces, and outdoor wood boilers. For larger loads, a chip system is often best.

8.1.1 Analysis Results

RETScreen analyses were performed for three different configurations of buildings. The results 

and details are presented below. A more detailed analysis is presented in Appendix B: 

RETScreen Analysis of Biomass Heating.

8.1.1.1 Configuration 1

We first analyzed a biomass heating system serving three buildings—the armory (with 

expansion), the future greenhouse, and the helicopter unit—but the results of the economic 

analysis were negative for all system sizes.

For example, a 1.2-MMBtu/h wood boiler, supplemented by natural gas heat at each facility, 

resulted in a negative $600,000 net present value (NPV) over 25 years; and a 3.7-MMBtu/h 

biomass system serving the same facilities produced a negative $835,000 NPV. The poor 

economic results are largely because of high installation costs, which are increased by the long 

distance between the proposed boiler site and the helicopter units.

8.1.1.2 Configuration 2

We next eliminated the helicopter units and evaluated a system that would supply only the 

greenhouse and armory. If the biomass system location is chosen to minimize piping runs, these 

facilities would still be 700 to 900 feet from the biomass site.

The results of this analysis were a little better than those for Configuration 1, but still negative. 

Using a 1.6-MMBtu/h wood boiler, we estimated a 25-year NPV of -$430,000. The cost savings 

from using free fuel ($30,000 per year) would be partially offset by increased operations and 

maintenance costs, and the net savings would not be sufficient to offset the high capital and 

installation costs over a 25-year period.
42

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A sensitivity analysis indicates that capital costs would have to decrease by more than 40% and

natural gas costs would have to increase by more than 40% before a positive NPV could be 

achieved for this configuration.

8.1.1.3 Configuration 3

Our final analysis was for a single building. Because it had the largest heating load and the best 

chance for success, this analysis focused on the armory.

Heating a single building—and assuming that the heating system can be located directly in that 

building—eliminates the capital and maintenance costs for the distribution system, and it 

eliminates the energy losses associated with pumping the hot water over long distances.

Even with these advantages, the NPV for this configuration was still negative. We also 

performed a sensitivity analysis for this configuration and found that NPV is negative even when 

the initial costs are reduced by more than 50%.

8.2 Electric Only

A biomass power plant can be built to provide electricity either to an on-site load or for sale. 

Electricity can be sold to a local or distant load, but this will almost always involve one or more 

electric utility companies.

For the Municipal Farm site, we considered potential electricity generation from the available 

biomass.

As discussed previously, the current site load is approximately 100 kW. A system of this size 

would require between four and five tons of biomass per day—approximately 1,800 tons per 

year. This is generally too small for a steam system. Gasification systems in this size are under 

development—and have been for several years—but nothing in this size is commercially viable 

or economically feasible.

In Chapter 4, we presented data estimating that the leaf and brush collection is currently 

approximately 12,000 to 14,000 GT per year. By itself, this is sufficient to produce 

approximately 600 to 700 kW of electricity. With the projected additional 88,000 GT per year 

resulting from the collection of ash trees, the total production could be as high as 6 MW.

22

Unfortunately, the Missouri Public Utilities Commission does not allow a facility to generate 

more electricity than can be used at the site, either for sale to the utility or to a third-party 

customer (also known as distribution wheeling). It is our understanding that the City of Kansas 

City cannot be an energy reseller in the state, unless the buyer is also owned by the city.

 22 It is common practice to assume that not all of the existing biomass will be available for a specific installation. A

biomass availability multiple (BAM)—the ratio of available fiber in a woodshed to the quantity of fiber required by 

a project—is typically used to estimate how much material can reliably be acquired for a project. Some of the 

identified resources may not be solvent long term, thus lenders and investors desire some insurance that enough fuel 

will be available on a long-term basis. If the amount of identifiable fuel is double or triple the requirement, lenders 

feel that the fuel risk is lower. Generally, a BAM of 3x or more supports a projection of long-term availability of 

sufficient woody biomass for the project at stable prices. A BAM of 3x means that significant impacts on feedstock 

cost over the long term are likely to be limited to changes in diesel fuel prices. If we assume a BAM of 3, we can 

expect a reliable feedstock to serve a 2-MW electric project based on available biomass data.
43

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For these reasons and under the current conditions, biomass power is not recommended for the 

Municipal Farm site.

8.3 Biomass CHP

As discussed previously, a biomass CHP system could use either a backpressure turbine or an 

extraction turbine. The backpressure option would produce electricity proportional to the thermal 

energy demand. Because the demand is currently high only in the winter, this option would not 

make sense for serving the current loads.

An extraction turbine would need to be designed to serve the Municipal Farm site electrical and 

thermal loads, but, again, the electrical loads are too small to justify the cost of an extraction 

turbine.
44

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9 Conclusions and Recommendations

Preliminary estimates of available low-grade biomass range from 12,000 to 102,000 GT per year.

This is technically enough biomass to produce 600 kW to 6 MW of electricity. Unfortunately, 

the site load is only approximately 100 kW, and the City of Kansas City cannot be an energy 

reseller based on current regulations. Thus, neither biomass power nor CHP would be 

economically viable at the Municipal Farm site with the current loads.

Three building combinations were analyzed for biomass heating. Because of low loads, none of 

these analyses resulted in positive economic performance.

Based on current loads, our conclusion is that none of the biomass applications reviewed for the 

Municipal Farm site will produce positive economic returns, even with free biomass fuel.

This is not to imply that biomass will not work at the site. What is lacking is sufficient load. If 

the site is eventually built out to include facilities with high thermal demand in close proximity 

to a future biomass central plant, biomass could be a viable resource, particularly because it is 

already being collected by the city.

9.1 Summary of Key Recommended Activities

As stated previously, the loads and energy costs at the site—under current conditions—are not 

conducive to an economically viable biomass installation. If conditions change, the following 

steps should be taken. They are drawn from earlier sections of this report.

9.1.1 Biomass Feedstock

Contact foresters, wood utilization specialists, lumber mills, and others to obtain a firmer 

analysis of available biomass, biomass properties, and biomass cost.

Other potential sources of waste biomass include the pallet industry and the construction and 

demolition industry, and local nonprofits such as Heartland Habitat for Humanity ReStore should 

be consulted for waste materials that could be used in a larger biomass plant. In addition, crop 

residue might be considered as a supplement feedstock.

9.1.2 Loads

• Follow-up with the Army National Guard to assess their interest in purchasing heat and/or 

electricity from a biomass facility and to help estimate the increased future loads.

• Contact Missing Ingredient, LLC, to determine their expected loads and to assess their 

interest in purchasing heat, electricity, and CO2 from a biomass facility.

• Estimate other potential thermal and electrical loads resulting from future development. 
45

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10References

Biomass Energy Resource Center (BERC). (2011). “Woodchip Fuel Specifications in the 

Northeastern United States.” Montpelier, VT. Accessed September 11, 2013: 

http://www.biomasscenter.org/images/stories/Woodchip_Heating_Fuel_Specs_electronic.pdf. 

“BioSAT.” (2007–2014). Perdue, J.H.; Young, Timothy, M. USDA Forest Service, Southern 

Research Station, and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN. Accessed September 11, 

2013: http://www.biosat.net/. 

Bracker, A. (2011). “Kansas City Municipal Farm RE-Powering Application.” Kansas City, MO. 

Bracker, A. (Sept. 12, 2013). Personal communication with Bracker, A., Brownfields 

Coordinator, City of Kansas City, Missouri, Department of City Planning and Development,

Urban Redevelopment Division. 

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs. (2013). “Carbon Dioxide in 

Greenhouses.” Fact Sheet. Accessed September 9, 2013: 

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/00-077.htm#f1.

City of Kansas City. (2007). “Missouri Organics Recycling Contract 2007–2010 (EVO356).” 

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City of Kansas City. (2012). Municipal Farm Sustainable Reuse Plan. Kansas City, MO. 

Accessed May 2014: 

http://www.kcmo.org/idc/groups/cco/documents/citycommunicationsoffice/sustainablereuseplan.

pdf.

Crawford, M. “Fluidized Bed Combustors for Biomass Boilers.” American Society of 

Mechanical Engineers. Accessed September 11, 2013: https://www.asme.org/kb/news---

articles/articles/boilers/fluidized-bed-combustors-for-biomass-boilers.

“Data Tables.” (2013). Electricity: Electric Sales, Revenue, and Average Prices, EIA. Accessed 

September 11, 2013: http://www.eia.gov/electricity/sales_revenue_price/index.cfm.

DEFRA/BERR. (2007). Renewable Heat Initial Business Case. London: United Kingdom. 

Accessed September 9, 2013: 

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file41432.pdf.

“District Heat Montpelier.” (2013). Montpelier, Vermont: The Official City Website. Accessed 

September 11, 2013: http://www.montpelier-vt.org/group/99.html.

“District Energy St. Paul.” (2013). Accessed September 11, 2013: 

http://www.districtenergy.com/technologies/district-heating/.

“EIA 860 Detailed Data.” (2013). Electricity, EIA. http://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860/.
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EPA. (2011). “Final Air Toxics Standards for Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional Boilers at

Area Source Facilities.” Fact Sheet. Accessed September 11, 2013: 

http://www.epa.gov/airquality/combustion/docs/20110221aboilersfs.pdf. 

EPA CHP Partnership. (2007). Biomass Combined Heat and Power Catalog of Technologies.

Accessed September 11, 2013: http://www.epa.gov/chp/documents/biomass_chp_catalog.pdf.

Federal Register. (2013). Rules and Regulations. Vol 78, no. 22, p. 7,518. Friday, February 1.

Fink, R.J.; Fink. R.L. (2006). An Assessment of Biomass Feedstock Availability in Missouri.

Prepared for the University of Missouri Office of Special Programs, Missouri Department of 

Natural Resources, and the DOE/SSEB Southeast Biomass State and Regional Partnership. 

Accessed May 29, 2014: http://ded.mo.gov/energy/docs/biomass-inventory2005-07.pdf.

“Industrial/Commercial/Institutional Boilers and Process Heaters.” (2013). Technology Transfer 

Network—Air Toxins Website, National Emission Standards, EPA. 

http://www.epa.gov/airtoxics/boiler/boilerpg.html

Kansas City Parks and Recreation. (2012). Emerald Ash Borer and Its Impact to the Urban 

Forest of Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City, MO. 

“Maps and State EAB Information.” (2014). Emerald Ash Borer. USDA Forest Service, 

Michigan State University, Purdue University, and Ohio State University. 

http://www.emeraldashborer.info/map.cfm#sthash.zz8Q9xTX.hhvavNBf.dpbs. 

“Missouri Information.” (2013). Emerald Ash Borer. USDA Forest Service, Michigan State 

University, Purdue University, and Ohio State University. Accessed September 9, 2013: 

http://www.emeraldashborer.info/missouriinfo.cfm#sthash.cUHNCE0t.dpbs.

“Missouri State Energy Profile.” (2014). EIA. http://www.eia.gov/state/print.cfm?sid=MO.

Myers, C.; Polak, D.; Stortz, L. (1975). Full Tree Weight Equations and Tables for Selected 

Central Hardwoods. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University, pp. 7. 

“Profile Overview.” (2013). Missouri: State Profile and Energy Estimates, EIA. Accessed 

September 11, 2013: http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=MO.

Shaw, M. (2012). “EPA RE-Powering Biomass Questionnaire—KCMO.” June 6. 

Slade-Sevener, M. (Sept. 16, 2013). Personal communication with Monica Slade-Sevener, 

Energy Program Analyst, Installations Division, ARNG-ILI-F.

Steltzer, H. (Feb. 10, 2014). Personal communication with Hank Stelzer, University of Missouri. 

Thorson, J.; Christiansen, C.; Marek, B. (2011). “Experience on Low-Temperature District 

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University of New Hampshire (UNH) Media Relations. (2007). “First University in Nation to 

Use Landfill Gas as Primary Energy Source.” August 14. Accessed September 11, 2013: 

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48

This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications.

11Appendices

11.1Appendix A: KCP&L Letter of Support

The utility serving the site, KCP&L, provided the following letter of support for this project.
49

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11.2Appendix B: RETScreen Analysis of Biomass Heating

We used the RETScreen23 program to analyze three biomass heating cases: (1) the Army 

National Guard Armory, a greenhouse, and helicopter units; (2) the National Guard Armory and 

a greenhouse; and (3) the National Guard Armory only. Results of the second analysis—a

heating system to serve the National Guard Armory (with expansion) and the (future) 

greenhouse—are shown below.

11.2.1 Building Heating Loads

Table 7 shows the building details used for the base case, in which natural gas is used to heat 

both facilities. (Building 1 is the greenhouse, and Building 2 is the armory). The biomass case is 

compared to this base case.

Table 7. Building Details and Thermal Loads—Base Case

For this system, we estimated that a 1.6-MMBtu/h boiler would provide 95% of the annual load. 

Individual natural gas heaters in each building would serve as backup units and would provide 

the remaining 5% of the heating load.

11.2.2 Cost Estimates

Including distribution piping, a biomass heating system, fuel storage, feasibility studies, and 

engineering, we estimated a total initial cost of slightly less than $700,000. We estimated 

 23 RETScreen is a software program developed by Natural Resources Canada in collaboration with international 

partners including NASA, REEEP, UNEP, and others. It is available at http://www.retscreen.net/.
50

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operations and maintenance costs of approximately $6,000 per year24 and natural gas fuel costs 

of $1,700 per year.

11.2.3 Financial Analysis

Table 8 shows the financial parameters used in the analysis. We also assumed that the debt 

would be zero, meaning that no money would be borrowed to pay for the project.

Table 8. Financial Parameters Used in the Analysis

Table 9 shows the results of the financial analysis. Note that the NPV is negative, as are the 

annual life-cycle savings.

Table 9. Results of the Financial Analysis

Table 10 shows the yearly cash flows, starting in year 0, for the 25-year life of the project. 

Annual cash flows just start to become positive in year 25.

 24 This does not account for any other costs for operating the biomass system, such as personnel time to deliver fuel 

to the site, or to load wood chips to the fuel bunker, or to do a daily walk-through of the facility. If costs need to be 

assigned to these activities, that will further degrade the economic results.
51

This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications.

Table 10. Yearly Cash Flows

11.2.4 Sensitivity Analysis

All of the estimates provided for capital and operations costs have a high margin of error. We 

performed a sensitivity analysis to see how the net present value would change over a range of

capital costs and of natural gas costs. The sensitivity analysis results are presented in Table 11.
52

This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications.

Table 11. Sensitivity Analysis for NPV

Throughout the range of costs examined, the NPV for this project is negative, even if fuel costs 

increase by 30% and initial costs drop by 30%. In fact, both amounts would have to change by 

more than 40% before the NPV becomes positive.

Perform analysis 

Sensitivity range

$

479,895 582,730 685,565 788,400 891,234

$ -30% -15% 0% 15% 30%

21,221 -30% -330,435 -433,270 -536,105 -638,940 -741,774

25,769 -15% -276,780 -379,615 -482,450 -585,284 -688,119

30,316 0% -223,125 -325,960 -428,794 -531,629 -634,464

34,863 15% -169,470 -272,304 -375,139 -477,974 -580,809

39,411 30% -115,814 -218,649 -321,484 -424,319 -527,153

Net Present Value (NPV)

30%

Initial costs

Fuel cost - base case